When counting votes, Big Bird a big pain

Friday

Nov 9, 2012 at 6:00 AM

At lunchtime on Election Day, writing in Chuck Norris for president might seem like a funny thing to do — even if the name is spelled wrong. It slows the process and after Tuesday’s large turnout, presented one more wrench in the wheel for poll workers, who were counting into the wee morning hours in some towns.

By Kim Ring TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

At lunchtime on Election Day, writing in Chuck Norris for president might seem like a funny thing to do — even if the name is spelled wrong.

But 12 hours later, the town clerk fails to see the humor.

Write-in votes cause the ballot to be moved into a second tray inside the voting machine, from which they must be removed and hand tallied. It slows the process and after Tuesday’s large turnout, presented one more wrench in the wheel for poll workers, who were counting into the wee morning hours in some towns.

“Every ballot has to be looked at, and if they went through the trouble to write it in and fill in the circle, you have to assume they wanted to vote it,” Spencer Town Clerk Laura Torti said.

Mrs. Torti and her staff were wading through ballots that included some interesting write-ins, including Karl Marx, John Q. Adams and Bill Clinton for Governor’s Council.

And Worcester Clerk of Courts Dennis McManus might be surprised to learn that in Spencer, Bill Clinton and George Bush both received votes for his job.

The write-in votes are a frustration for clerks who are already faced with a daunting task when voters turn out in record numbers.

“People that write in Mickey Mouse are not only wasting their vote, they’re wasting the time of the people counting who have already put in a long day,” Mrs. Torti said.

In Hardwick, Town Clerk Paula Roberts used to struggle with the same problem, but she found a creative fix.

She noticed that several voters were writing in a local man for every open position on the local election ballot, year after year.

“I was able to figure out who they were,” she said. “I wasn’t 100 percent sure but I felt I knew, so I told these fellows I needed help counting votes and I asked if any of them would help. Some of them did and when they saw what I went through after the election, it stopped.”

In local elections, writing in a friend could mean the person is elected to a post the person doesn’t want, and that starts another process in which the candidate-elect must decline the position.

Mrs. Roberts said voters who cast ballots with foolish votes on them are wasting taxpayer money, too, because it increases the time town employees must work.

Southbridge Town Clerk Madaline I. Daoust gets a little frustrated with write-in ballots in part, because, like the other clerks, she sees casting a ballot as important.

“This is a serious thing and people should take it as such,” she said. “It’s democracy at its finest.”

This year she saw votes for Newt Gingrich, Minnie and Mickey Mouse, and Darth Vader.

There was also a ballot cast for Big Bird, probably as a result of that character’s sudden increased popularity after the first presidential debate, in which Mitt Romney said he loved Big Bird but would cut subsidies to PBS.

Brian McNiff, a spokesman for Secretary of State William F. Galvin, said write-in votes are typically reported as “other” when clerks make their final tallies to the state.

Votes for candidates that appear to be serious are tallied and listed, though, so in Spencer a vote for state Rep. Peter J. Durant as senator might have been intended.

Mrs. Torti and her crew were finishing up shortly before 2 a.m. Wednesday from Tuesday’s election, in part because of a failed voting machine.

It was her first big election as clerk and she’s hoping she got the bugs out.

After the long night, she said, she hopes she’ll see more participation in local elections and town meeting from those who only come out every four years.

She’s also hoping people will consider more carefully how they use their votes.

“Voting is a serious thing,” she said. “It should be meaningful and voters should cast their ballots in a thoughtful way.”